An Untimely Encounter with Death Himself
by Bambi1345
Summary: There were three instances where the town of St. Petersburg had believed Huck Finn to be dead, they could be right only once.


Huckleberry Finn was not what you would call a respected member of the community. And he was never regarded so, from the time of his birth to the time of his death. Even before he was born a curse or in other words a bad name was placed upon him. His mother, Ida Williams was young and beautiful. She came from a rich plantation family but never appreciated the life there. Hucks father, was a Finn and the Finns have had a notoriously bad name since St. Petersburg's founding. It was well known that drunken habits lye in the family. But Ida Williams hated her rich life, she wanted to rebel, so she did. Ida ran off at the age of 17 to marry a hired farm hand on her plantation (Mr. Finn). Things weren't bad right off, but rumors circulated about the married couple. Despite the hate and despise, the two had a son by the somewhat strange name of Huckleberry. But, Ida never lived long enough to hold her own child, she died minutes after her little son was born. In that moment the family habit of the the Finns came to little Huck's dad, and from that moment Huckleberry Finn would never have a parent to love and care for him. On the night of his own birth, he was already despised and unwanted.

The rest of the story is known to everyone. Huck took to being the towns small criminal at only the age of four or five. His father, having an habit to leave him for long periods of time, never cared for Huck. So little Huckleberry cared for himself by stealing, sleeping out in open air, and wearing any clothes he could find. No Mother of St. Petersburg would ever allow her child to fraternize with 'such Scum' 'Trash' 'Dirt' 'Good for nothing drunk'. But the children of St. Petersburg did, not because they liked Huck. They wished to go against their mothers rules and do the unthinkable. Only one boy, was brave enough to be his friend and that boy was Tom Sawyer.

Huck went about his life going on grand adventures, some with Tom, some without. He did what he pleased and was forever unloved for doing so. His big ideas seemed dumb and down low to most in his town, even Tom. But, this didn't bother Huckleberry much; he didn't like being civilized anyways. St. Petersburg never thought that they would feel remorse for the child until a warm summers day, after Huckleberry and Tom had returned from Aunt Sally's. Huck was reluctant to return to the small town for he was afraid of his father, who believed he was dead. However, to Huck the only thing worse than his father was being civilized by someone like Aunt Sally. So reluctantly, with persuasion from Tom, Huck returned.

...

The night upon Huck's arrival; his father approached him with such force, a belt in hand. He was once again drunk. Huck ran to the corner of the small home, his feet slipping on the dirt floor beneath him. He was trapped, there was no way out of this. But Huck was plenty used to it, he learned to tolerate his fathers beatings with a a supreme air of calm. However, Huck hadn't seen his father this mad in a long time. Huckleberry Finn felt and heard the crack of the belt against his back but barely winced in pain. His father, after seeing Huck's calm demeanor came in for a second, harder blown. This time the belt broke skin but his child remain calm and uncomplaining.

"Cry b-boy!" Mr. Finn yelled, bursting with anger as he kicked his son in the stomach. "CRY!"

"No, why would I cry. I go nothin to cry bout." The boy replied, coughing from the blow to his stomach.

"You killed her! You killed your damned mother on this very day! That ought to make a person cry." Hucks father said this with force at first but slowly his voice died down into a whimper. "You at the least owe me that money for ruining my life."

"I told you, I don't have the money no more." This time Huck's voice shook and a clap of thunder echoed through the sky as a storm fast approached.

"Then cry! Just cry for Ida, just once show that you love her somewhere in your heart." He father kneeled on the ground and began to cry the saddest tears Huck had ever seen.

"I love my mam, but I ain't gonna cry, because I didn't kill her. Least, I dint try to kill her." Huck replied, for once in his life feeling sympathy for his father.

"Goddamnit, son. You never listen to me do you?" His father roared, along with another clap of thunder. The beating the proceeded for a half hour or so, till Huck's back was not only black and blue, but red.

His father let out a sigh and collapsed to the floor in a drunken heap. Now, was his chance. Huck ran through the summer darkness; winds picked up as it began raining with force. He didn't stop till he reached the river, where he frantically looked for a boat or raft of some kind. By traveling down the river, Huck was usually able to escape his father. Lighting struck, and illuminated the scenery around him to reveal a small raft laying on the shore. He ran to it, like a frantic animal. Stumbling as he pushed it into the water. But the river bank was muddy, the night was dark, the boy was frantic; Huckleberry Finn slipped in the mud, as he pushed the boat in the water. Knocking his head against the wood on the raft and becoming unconscious as he floated lifelessly to a entrapment of branches, where he would be snared and left to die in the raging waters of the Mississippi.


End file.
